Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940 • United States
Starring Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn
“If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee, it’s the bunk!” That’s the slogan that ambitious office clerk Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell) enters in hopes of winning the $25,000 grand prize in a contest sponsored by Maxford House Coffee. When Jimmy’s mischievous coworkers trick him into thinking he’s won, the young man’s newfound “success” goes to his head with madcap consequences. Adapted from the writer-director’s own stage play “A Cup of Coffee,” Preston Sturges’s sophomore feature takes aim at the pitfalls of capitalism with riotous screwball glee.
Up Next in Directed by Preston Sturges
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Hail the Conquering Hero
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1944 • United States
Starring Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, William DemarestToo embarrassed to admit to his family and friends that he was discharged from World War II because of hay fever, Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) is befriended by a group...
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The Great McGinty
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940 • United States
Starring Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim TamiroffPreston Sturges famously sold the story for this barbed political satire to Paramount for just $10 in exchange for the chance to direct. Brian Donlevy stars as Dan McGinty, a Depression-era h...
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The Lady Eve
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1941 • United States
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles CoburnBarbara Stanwyck sizzles, Henry Fonda bumbles, and Preston Sturges runs riot in one of the all-time great screwballs, a pitch-perfect blend of comic zing and swoonworthy romance. Aboard a cr...
